Somebody Told Me
by TCD
Summary: Semi-long story inspired by "Quelqu'un m'a dit" a song by Carla Bruni. Find out what happens when after two years without contact with the Cullens someone tells Bella that Edward still loves her. Rated T. AU. BxE.
1. Paris

**A/N**: _Hi there, it's been longer than I had initially planned but at least it didn't take me roughly half a year, like it did last time ;):P _

_Anyways, here is my new, semi-long story. It's called Somebody Told Me (like you probably already noticed :P) and it's inspired a French song I really like called "Quelqu'un m'a dit" which, according to my knowledge of French :P, translates to "somebody has told me" and is sung by Carla Bruni :P The story shows you all what happens when after two years of no contact with the Cullens somebody tells Bella that Edward still loves her. _

_The story will have 6 chapters, or perhaps 7 but not much more than that… I have 5 chapters already written up so there will at least be five ;) and I will update a new chapter every day :) As long as real life permits that, that is :P But here's the first chapter, I hope you like it and I'm always very happy to read reviews :) *not so subtle hint ;):P* Enjoy!_

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Paris**

It had been more than six months since I had left my home in Forks. I had finished high school and had decided to travel a bit before starting a new adventure at college. Of course Charlie – my father – hadn't been happy with me leaving but that was just something he was going to have to get used to. I had lived with him throughout my entire high school career and it had been great and most of all it had been simple. He and my mother got divorced when I was very little so I didn't know any better than the two of them being apart but at least they got along great. I had lived with my mother in Phoenix until I finished elementary school and had then decided to go live with Charlie in Forks.

Forks wasn't great but by now it was home. I still frequently complained about the weather in Forks; it rained more than anywhere in the world basically and it was cold. The summers were a little better but it was definitely no Phoenix. In the beginning I'd had a difficult time adjusting at Forks High but that quickly changed after the Cullens moved to town.

The Cullens. Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Carlisle, Esme and Edward. They had been my friends throughout in high school, my family even. But two years ago they suddenly left. It still hurt. They hadn't even told me they were leaving, they just packed up and left, simple as that. As if I hadn't meant anything to them. Come to think of it, I probably hadn't, I wasn't that special after all. And they all were very special. They were all extremely gorgeous and smart. I spent almost every day with them, especially with Edward and Alice. Alice had been my best friend in the whole world. But I guess she didn't feel the same about me.

I would be lying if I said that the reason I was in France now had absolutely nothing to do with the Cullens. Staying in Forks hurt. I went through my last years of high school in a daze. Everything about high school and Forks reminded me of them and how they had abandoned me. I had never bothered to make many other friends in high school because I already spent all my time with the Cullens. So when they left, I didn't have anyone anymore. I still remember the time I found out they had left.

_It was a day like any other. I got dressed in the morning and I quickly ate my breakfast because, as per usual, I was late. I rushed to school after quickly brushing my teeth and practically ran towards my first class of the day. I hardly paid attention during the first few periods, I was anxious like I always was in the morning. I had Biology the class before lunch and that's when I sat next to Edward. It had been a tradition of ours ever since he moved to Forks. I was anxious because somehow I always felt uncomfortable around Edward. Being friends with him wasn't as easy as it was being friends with any of the other Cullens. For some reason my stomach always acted weird whenever I was around Edward and he made my head swim. _

Of course by now I knew I liked him as more than just a friend, but I didn't realize it back then.

_I walked into the Biology classroom half anxious half excited. I automatically directed my gaze towards our shared desk. He wasn't there yet. Normally he always beat me to the class but I guess his Spanish class was running late today. I didn't think anything of it. _

_Class started not much later and still no Edward. I was disappointed, so disappointed that I couldn't quite focus on the assignment the teacher had given us. I looked outside and noticed it wasn't even sunny. _

_The Cullens always went camping in the woods whenever it was sunny. Those were the only days the Cullen kids skipped school. It was their family thing. But it wasn't like Edward to just not show up to class, normally if he felt like ditching class he would always let me know so I was at least mentally prepared to face Biology alone. But Edward ditching rarely happened, he was too much of a model student for that. _

_When at lunch there was still no sign of any of the Cullens I was starting to get worried. _

"_He got offered a new job, effective immediately, so I heard." I barely registered Jessica Stanley's voice when she passed me by. Jessica was the biggest gossiper in our high school, she always knew what was going on with everybody in town, she took after her mother. _

"_So they _all_ just moved? In the middle of the school year?" Jessica's friend Lauren asked. _

_That captured my interest. The way she said 'all' made my stomach turn. I was wondering who they were talking about but I never really interacted with those girls so it would be weird if all of a sudden I would ask what they're talking about. _

"_That's what I heard. They apparently all transferred," Jessica answered her friend. _

"_It's too bad, I know if I'd had a little more time I would have made Edward mine." I heard Lauren mutter and it felt like my entire world collapsed. They were talking about the Cullens! Had they really just moved like that? Without saying a word to me? I couldn't understand why they would do that. _

_The rest of the school day passed by in a daze. I went through the motions, I was physically present but my mind was elsewhere. I was trying to wrap my head around what Lauren and Jessica had said. By now I wasn't yet convinced that Lauren and Jessica were telling the truth, they were known to be off every now and then. But it was suspicious that none of the Cullens were at school today even though the sun was nowhere to be seen. That had never happened before. There was always someone around. _

_I decided to go straight to their home after school, to see if they had really left. I had seen Alice two days before and she had said nothing about them moving so it was unlikely that they would have been able to move all their stuff already. I might be able to catch someone at their house to see if the rumors were really true. _

_The driveway was awfully quiet and so was everything around the house. I didn't see any cars or any of the decorations that were usually displayed in the garden. I slowly walked up to the house not really hopeful anymore. _

_My last shred of hope had completely vanished into thin air the moment I looked through their window. There were no more couches, no more TV, no more chairs, no more anything in the living room. The house seemed completely empty. How they had managed to fix that in such a short time, I didn't know, but they had; there was no sign that they had ever even been there. _

_I didn't want to torture myself any further but it didn't seem I had a choice. I needed to know if absolutely _everything_ was gone. So I walked to the front door and luck was on my side, it was opened. I entered the house reluctantly and walked around. I checked every room in the house and with every new door I opened my heart sank even further. It was all hopeless; they had left without a trace. _

I remember crying nonstop for an entire day, I called in sick from school and just stayed in bed. If Carlisle had indeed gotten a new job offer they could have just told me right? I didn't understand why they had deserted me like that. I was their friend! I saw them as my own family! But family didn't treat one another that way. After a week of moping around and feeling sorry for myself I changed my attitude. It went from sad to angry and determined. I was determined to just live my life and forget they had ever been a part of it. It wasn't as easy as that but I survived high school and after that I wanted to get out of Forks as quickly as I could. But I wasn't quite ready for a new school experience just yet. So I decided to take the year off and travel. I could work on my applications in peace that way as well.

I had plenty of money saved up because I had worked every second I didn't have to spend in school, just to keep myself busy. So right after graduation I had packed my bags and left for Europe. I had traveled all over Europe by myself. It had been a great experience and it was almost coming to an end. I had finished all the applications and I received a full scholarship to the University of Washington. I was going to go back in a few days to arrange everything for my move to Washington D.C.

I was currently in France, where I had spent the last two months of my adventure. I had never taken any French classes before and I wanted to learn the language because I thought it always sounded so pretty. So I had lived in Paris for the last two months, living with a French family and working as the babysitter for their daughter of four years old. I had taken French classes every evening. It had been difficult to learn the language but because I had so much practice - the little girl didn't speak any English - I was almost fluent by now.

I was sad to leave the family who had become my friends and sort of my own family over the last two months. But I had to get back to the States. I was eager to see Charlie again as well as Renée, my mother. I talked to them frequently over the phone and we emailed almost every day so I knew they were doing well but I missed them terribly. It would at least be easier to see them more often when I was living in Washington. Since then I didn't have to cross an ocean whenever I wanted to visit them for a weekend or something.

Charlie had been worried sick about me the entire time I had been away. Sure he knew that I was perfectly able to take care of myself, I had after all been taking care of him and me since forever. But the idea of me alone in a strange country still scared him so he was glad I was coming home soon. Not that he would ever say that out loud, Charlie and I never talked about our feelings, neither of us was comfortable with that but we both knew how we felt.

"Bonjour Bella," Claire said as I walked into the house that had been my home for the past months.

Claire was Fleur's mother. She was a wonderful woman. Claire and her husband Pierre were extremely wealthy, Pierre was a very successful lawyer and Claire owned her own clothing line. But they were both very kind and very down to earth. Fleur was their princess, she had everything she could ever wish for and more but she was extremely sweet and luckily not difficult at all.

"Bonjour Claire," I replied happily.

"How was your day?" she asked in her heavy accent.

Claire had used me to practice her English and it had greatly improved since I first arrived there. She said I would have enough opportunities to practice my French with her daughter and in town and that she would prefer to speak English with me if I didn't mind.

"It was alright, I just walked around Paris," I told her. "I'm going to miss it here."

"Paris is wonderful indeed, but I'm sure you will be happy to be back with your parents as well," she commented.

"That's true," I replied simply.

"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes," Claire told me before she walked into the living room.

Pierre and Claire had a wonderful cook, she prepared the most delicious meals and she was an artist when it came to the salads she made, absolutely wonderful. I had been lucky enough to be able to learn a few things about cooking from her. I'm sure Charlie would be positively surprised when I got back and prepared him a traditional French meal.

Fleur was out playing at a friend's place today so I had had the day off and tomorrow Claire wanted to spend some time with her daughter so I would be allowed to do whatever I wanted as well. I didn't mind watching Fleur, it was a lot of fun, but every moment I could spend enjoying Paris now was very welcome. I was truly going to miss this city, more than I was going to miss any place I had visited before Paris. But that probably also had a lot to do with the fact that I had spent more time here than anywhere else during this trip.

After dinner I helped Fleur get ready for bed. It was always a struggle to get the little girl to take a bath but if I promised her to read her favorite book to her, "La Belle et la Bête" – the French version of the Beauty and the Beast – she would sit in the bath quietly. She wanted me to read the same stories to her every night, always fairytales, but Beauty and the Beast was her favorite, or at least it had been since I had come into the house because Belle reminded her of me and so she called me Belle instead of Bella. She loved it when I read to her because then she could make fun of my accent and correct me whenever I would pronounce something wrong. So instead of me teaching her something, she could pretend she was the teacher and teach me French.

"Bonne nuit Belle, je t'aime," Fleur said sleepily when she was finally in bed.

It was strange that this girl had become so attached to me so quickly, she had basically told me "I love you" from the second night I had tucked her in. And what was even more bizarre was that I had felt exactly the same way about her from the start. She was the most adorable little girl I had ever met.

I placed a kiss on her cheek. "Bonne nuit Fleur et doux rêves," I replied softly, wishing her a good night and sweet dreams.

I went back to my own room and grabbed the book I had been reading for a while now. I had been so committed to learning French that I had actually bought a copy of my favorite book in French – "Les Hauts de Hurlevent" or rather "Wuthering Heights". I was very pleased to learn that it actually really did help me understand French better and it wasn't even as difficult to read in French as I had feared.

Tomorrow was going to be my last full day in France and my last evening in Paris as well. I was glad to have the day off, at least that way I could say a proper goodbye to the city that had been my home for two months. I was going to walk around town the entire day by myself and enjoy the scenery. I might actually make a trip to the top of the Eiffel tower again but I wasn't completely sure about that yet. I would decide tomorrow.

I did make some friends here but they all had school so I couldn't hang out with them. I had already said goodbye to all of them a few days ago and it would only make things harder if I would hang out with them again tomorrow evening. So I would probably spend the evening the same as I had done today; just reading my book and enjoying the peace and quiet that I had had here every now and then. I would probably also be saying my goodbyes to Claire, Pierre and Fleur that evening because my plane would leave the day after that at noon so in the morning there wouldn't be much time for that.

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A/N**: _That's it for the first chapter :) I hope you all liked it :) Let me know what you thought :) I'll be back tomorrow with the next chapter. Xxx_


	2. Chez Alice

**A/N**: _Hi everyone, thanks so much for the reviews, __**Kristen Stewart Is My Life**__, __**natashar**__, __**twilight642531**__, __**Sweetie7smiled**__ and __**ravenlovestwilight**__, you guys are awesome! :) And thanks to everyone who has added this story or me to their favorites or alerts :) I greatly appreciate it :)_

_To ravenlovestwilight: I always try to keep my stories as close to the original characters as I can so unless I say otherwise in the beginning of the story you can assume they are vampires and everything is the way Stephenie Meyers intended it :)_

_Which brings me to something I ALWAYS forget :P _

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own Twilight or any of the recognizable characters, unfortunately I also do not own Paris or any of the monuments in Paris ;) _

_On to chapter 2 :) Hope you enjoy :)_

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Chez Alice**

I woke up early in the morning and when I looked over to my alarm I noticed it was only seven o'clock. But I was wide awake and I wanted to do a lot of things today so I dragged myself out of bed and prepared some breakfast for me and Fleur.

I brought Fleur her breakfast in bed and I spent some time there just talking and explaining why I had to go. She was sad that I was leaving but when I told her that my daddy had been missing me for the past half a year she understood, as long as I promised to write her every day. I promised I would write her an email once a week so I could keep practicing my French.

Not much later it was time for Fleur and Claire to get going. Pierre had already left earlier to go to his job and so I had the house all to myself. I took a shower in the huge bathroom they had, I sure was going to miss that massage beam they had, it was heavenly. But the small shower Charlie had at his home and the shower I was going to get in Washington, which was very likely going to be a crappy shower, would have to do until I myself made as much money as Pierre and Claire did. Once I'd accomplished that I would definitely buy one of these showers for myself.

I packed most of my belongings already so I wouldn't have to hurry too much tomorrow and once I was done I left the house.

I aimlessly walked through Paris for an hour or so and decided to go say goodbye to the Louvre first. I observed all the art I could in the small amount of time I spent there and left with a feeling of sadness as well as appreciation for the beautiful building.

I slowly strolled back through the city and admired the many shops they had there. I had a melancholy feeling when I first arrived in Paris and noticed all the expensive designer stores that were located in the city. Alice would definitely love this place. She lived for shopping pretty much and she would take every opportunity to drag me along with her. Shopping wasn't something I enjoyed doing but thinking back on it now I would rather shop with Alice every day than not have her in my life at all.

It was strange but at that moment, when I was thinking back to Alice, my attention was suddenly drawn to a small shop I hadn't noticed in this area before. Not that I really ever came to the most expensive street in Paris to shop but still. The shop didn't look big but it looked very classy and very expensive. It wasn't so much the clothes in the window that had attracted me, it was the name of the store. "Chez Alice" which roughly translated to 'Alice's place'. It wasn't logical for me but I walked towards the store nonetheless, like I was drawn there by some force I couldn't see or understand. I stared into the window for a long time but it didn't seem like anyone was there.

I just stood there, staring and not thinking anything in particular until at a certain point the door opened and a costumer came out. It was a woman in her forties, she was beautiful and looked like someone of great importance. I wasn't an expert on fashion but even I could tell she was very well dressed. To my surprise she smiled at me and I tentatively smiled back.

"This is an adorable little shop," she said kindly. "They have beautiful clothes too."

I just smiled at her. I didn't understand why she was telling me this, I had expected her to be a snob or something, like most people who were shopping here seemed to be. But this woman turned out to be very nice.

"It's prettier on the inside," she commented with a smile.

"Right, thank you," I replied with a blush. She must think I'm some sort of idiot for standing here staring into a store. She must know that I would never be able to afford any of these clothes.

"Au revoir," she said before disappearing into the crowd.

I don't know how she had done it but the woman had convinced me to walk into the store. So I tentatively opened the door and stepped inside. The store wasn't like any of the other boutiques they had here, I didn't feel wildly out of place as I set foot there. The clothes were expensive and beautiful but there was something familiar about them as well, something comforting. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was exactly.

"Bonjour," a beautiful female voice greeted me.

The voice sounded familiar but the accent was so flawless that I couldn't imagine me knowing this person. That was until I turned around and saw Alice standing there.

"Bella?" she asked the moment she saw me. Before I could reply she rushed towards me and pulled me in for a hug. "Oh my god Bella! What are you doing here?" she gushed excitedly.

"Hi," I muttered, unable to say anything more since her hug was cutting off my air supply.

She released me and took me in. "You look good," she noted.

"Thank you, so do you of course," I replied softly.

I felt uncomfortable. Now that I saw Alice it felt like she had never left and she was still my best friend. But things had changed, she had left! She had left me without saying anything.

"What are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

"I've lived in Paris for the last two months," I said curtly.

I still hadn't decided whether or not I wanted to be nice to Alice. But she made it hard for me to be mad at her. I didn't like how she pretended nothing had ever happened between us. It made it hard for me to bring it up.

"How have you been?" she asked cautiously, probably noticing my struggle.

This gave me an opening to tell her the truth, we would see where we were going to go from there.

"I have been miserable since my friends left me without a word a few years ago," I replied bitterly. "But here I was doing much better."

"Bella, I am so so sorry about that! I wanted to tell you but I wasn't allowed!" she said sounding sad.

"What do you mean you weren't allowed? Allowed by who?" I asked confused.

"Edward," she replied bitterly.

"Edward? What does he have to do with it all?"

"Well, Carlisle got this new job offer and we were going to have to move and Edward thought it would be easier for all of us if we just didn't tell you. But I felt miserable not telling you, I wanted to call you or email you or something to apologize but Edward convinced me that you would be better off not knowing where we were or what had happened. It would be easier that way. Every time I tried to contact you he would give me a speech about how I didn't care for you and that it was selfish of me to try and contact you now that we were living so far away, we could never be friends anyways," she explained sadly.

"I don't understand," I replied, dazed. "Why would it be better for me to be left in the dark? You guys left over night and I had to hear about it from Jessica Stanley! Do you have any idea how much that hurt? I thought you didn't care for me anymore, if you had ever cared for me at all! Why would Edward do that?" I ranted.

"Because he cares for you Bella, it was hard for him to leave you but he thought this was the only way he would get through it," she explained.

"The only way _he_ could get through it? I still don't understand. Why would it bother him so much?" I questioned.

"Don't you see? He loves you Bella. He was in love with you! He _is_ in love with you," she replied fiercely.

"Why? Why would he love me?" I couldn't make sense of what she was saying.

"I swore I would never tell you this but I believe there is a reason we're meeting here now so he's just going to have to deal with it. He loved you from the moments we all became friends. He could never say anything because he thought he was no good for you. My father wanted to stay in Forks and so did my mother but Edward convinced Carlisle to take the job here in France because he couldn't be around you every day and not be able to love you the way he wanted to. Edward never really asks for anything but this time he did and it seemed so important to him. He convinced us all it would be better for you if you weren't around us and so we left without a trace," she explained.

"Why would it be better for me not to be around you? I don't understand why he thought he wasn't good enough for me!" I was furious. They had no right to ruin my life the way they had.

And now they tell me it's because Edward loves me. It made no sense.

"It's true Bella, but I can't tell you the reason for that. You really have to talk to Edward about that. He didn't mean any harm Bella, he truly does love you. He has been miserable ever since we left Forks and all he ever does is sit in his room thinking about you. It's pathetic and I have tried to convince him to be with you but he never listens to me anymore," she said with a chagrin.

"So, Edward loves me?" I questioned.

I couldn't believe that was true. Why would he love me? He left me! He should have told me something earlier! I was in love with him too and he broke my heart by leaving the way he had. I had never really been interested in boys until he came along and I didn't want anything to do with guys after he had left either. It was all his fault and now I hear that he loves me? It didn't make sense whatsoever.

"More than anything Bella, he only left because he thought he was doing right by you," Alice replied softly.

"He should have just said so," I muttered.

"I know, I told him that over and over again but he never listens!" she said angrily.

"So you guys don't dislike me?" I asked sounding unsure again.

"Are you kidding? Bella we all love you! You're family!" she exclaimed before hugging me again. "You have no idea how much we have all missed you! You are my best friend in the whole world and I can't believe I actually listened to my stupid brother!" she ranted.

I just stood there hugging Alice for a little while until she pulled back and looked at me with a thoughtful look on her face.

"So when you said that my brother should have just told you that he liked you… Does that mean you like him too?" she questioned unsurely for once.

"I did like him, I didn't know it back then but I liked him more than I had ever liked anyone before," I replied with a blush.

"Unbelievable! I _knew_ it! I knew it all along and still I let him talk me into all of this! It's insane!" she exclaimed. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you think you can ever forgive him?" she asked barely audibly.

"I don't know, he broke my heart," I whispered.

"I really hope you can. Listen, the whole family is going to the opera tonight and I know it probably doesn't sound like a lot of fun but Edward will be there and maybe you guys can talk and make this right?" she asked. "So will you come with us?"

"Do you really think the rest will want to see me?" I asked cautiously.

"Are you kidding? They have all missed you Bella! Why don't you understand that?"

"Because you left me without any warning!" I shot back at her, sounding more mean than I had meant it.

Her face fell immediately and I felt sorry. "You're right Bella, I'm sorry, but we will get your trust back! I promise."

"I'm going to leave France and go back to Forks tomorrow so I probably won't see you again," I told her sadly.

"All the more reason for you to come with us tonight, I can't have you leaving Paris with a sad feeling!" she told me sternly. "Now come on, we're going to get you ready for tonight, I'm sure there's something in my store that you'll like!" she continued enthusiastically.

The rest of the afternoon we spent catching up and trying on different kinds of dresses for tonight. Alice told me that she had always wanted a fashion store in Paris and that this was her dream come true. She told me that the store was doing very well, there were many well-paying customers and she had many regulars that came in at least once a week.

I was happy for Alice, she seemed genuinely happy here and I wanted nothing but the best for her. She also told me that Esme and Rosalie had a bridal shop not far from here and that the three of them managed the two stores together although this was Alice's baby and the bridal store was theirs. Emmett and Jasper were in college by now and so was Edward but she told me that he never really got used to France. He didn't really like the people here and he didn't care much for speaking French, at least not as much as the rest of them did. They were all fluent in French by now but they still spoke English at home because they all thought it was easier.

I told Alice all about my adventure in Europe, all the places I had seen and the two months I had spent here in Paris. I couldn't believe I hadn't run into any of the Cullens before, especially not Carlisle, since I did have to go to the hospital every now and then because I'd had some clumsy moment or because Fleur got sick.

"You look absolutely beautiful Bella," Alice said appreciatively after she had given me a long, red dress to wear and she had fixed my hair and make-up. I did have to say I didn't look half bad. But I was still nothing compared to Alice, who was currently wearing a dark blue dress and her hair was neatly combed back as opposed to the spiky do she normally kept it in.

It was almost time for us to leave and I was getting very nervous. Alice hadn't told any of the others that I would be coming, she said she preferred it to be a surprise but I think she was just anxious that none of them would show up if they knew I was coming. Of course I didn't tell Alice that because she had already spent half an hour trying to convince me that the family had really missed me a lot.

"Jasper should be here to pick us up soon," Alice announced as she was tidying up the store. "Stop fidgeting Bella! You look amazing and there's nothing to be nervous about!" she warned me.

"Easy for you to say," I shot back at her.

"He loves you Bella, you'll work it out," she promised, knowing exactly what had me worried most.

I was afraid of seeing Edward again. I had tried not to think about him for so long and now that I was almost going to see him butterflies were attacking my stomach and my head was hurting from all the worrying. I still didn't believe that Edward actually could love me, I was so ordinary!

I didn't have much time to worry about it any further because the door opened and instead of seeing Jasper in the door as I had expected, there he was: Edward.

He looked gorgeous in his black suit with white shirt and black tie. He hadn't noticed me yet because I was hiding in the dressing room area.

"Jasper is waiting in the car," Edward announced to Alice in his velvety voice.

"Let's go," Alice said while turning her attention to me.

This was it.

I tentatively walked out of the dressing room area and the moment I came into view I saw Edward's jaw drop and his eyes widen.

"Bella?" he said surprised with a little bit of hurt in his voice.

"Hi Edward," I replied softly.

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A/N**: _Well that's it for today's chapter :) I hope you liked it :) More Edward tomorrow, yay! :P Xxx_


	3. Talk

**A/N**: _Hi everyone. First off: Thanks so much for reviewing __**Kristen Stewart Is My Life**__, __**DizzyIzzyCullen**__ and __**ravenlovestwilight**__, you guys are awesome! :) _

_To Kristen Stewart Is My Life: Now you don't have to wait for more Edward anymore ;) Enjoy!_

_To DizzyIzzyCullen: Thanks for reviewing :D And I just had to say that I love your name :D It sounds funny :P_

_To ravenlovestwilight: Your review cracked me up :D Thanks for the awesome review! :) And I'm very glad you like my writing ;)_

_As promised, more Edward today, yay :P I hope you all enjoy chapter three :) If you do, let me know! And If you don't, well comments are always welcome :)_

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Talk**

"Bella, what are you doing here?" Edward asked after a moment of silence.

"Traveling," I answered him with a shrug. I wasn't sure how to act around Edward right now so I settled for indifferent for the moment. At least until he made the first move. I didn't care that Alice told me he had feelings for me, as long as I hadn't heard it out of his mouth, I wasn't going to act on it or believe it for that matter, that would only end up causing me pain if it turned out to be a lie.

"By yourself?" he questioned. He sounded uncomfortable, I'm sure that was just the surprise of seeing me here. Or maybe he didn't want to see me and just was trying to let me down easy.

"Yep," I said, popping my lips at the 'p'.

"As fascinating as this conversation is, we have to get going," Alice interjected in a chipper voice.

"Right, Alice invited me to come along with you guys tonight. You don't mind do you?" I asked softly, gazing into Edward's eyes.

"Of course not!" he exclaimed quickly.

"Good, I don't want to impose," I muttered.

"You're not imposing Bella, I invited you, let's go!" Alice urged, already holding the door open for us.

"Alright, alright, we're coming," Edward said tiredly.

Alice quickly took her seat in the front of the car and I noticed Jasper sitting in the driver's seat.

"Bella? Hi, it's good to see you again! What are you doing here?" Jasper asked kindly when he noticed me getting in the car after Edward had held the door open for me.

I threw a tentative smile at Edward as a sign of thanks and I greeted Jasper with a slight blush on my face. "Hi Jasper, it's good to see you again too. Alice invited me to come along."

"That's wonderful! We've all missed you," he said warmly.

I couldn't help but smile at Jasper. We had never really been close, he had always rather kept his distance from me but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.

Edward joined me in the backseat and I wasn't sure how to act now. I felt extremely uncomfortable being around him because I wasn't sure whether or not to be mad at him, yell at him or just hug him. It was tearing me up inside and so I settled for staring out the window and ignoring Edward altogether.

"Bella?" Edward asked softly.

"Hmm?" I replied. I had been deep in thought about what to do next so I was a little out of it when he called me back to reality.

"You look good," he simply said.

I blushed feverishly and I had to look away from his gaze. He was intently staring into my eyes and it made me very uncomfortable. It was hard to form coherent thoughts around him and all I needed now was to think.

"Thanks, so do you," I muttered weakly.

He didn't speak to me the rest of the ride and I actually preferred it that way.

When we arrived at the theatre I still wasn't sure how to act around Edward and I hadn't decided on anything with respect to the yelling or hugging question I had had earlier. They were both very tempting. But I didn't get any more time to think about it because it was time to meet the family now. I hadn't been nervous about seeing the rest of the Cullens anymore since Alice had told me they all still loved me and they only left because of Edward.

Alice turned out to be right, as she usually was. The Cullens were all already there, waiting in front of the theatre for us. Or at least for Alice, Jasper and Edward, since they weren't really expecting me. The shock was apparent on all their faces when I came into view. I saw Carlisle and Edward exchange wary glances before I was picked up and what felt like being sent flying in the air by Emmett. He pulled me in for a tight hug and I couldn't help but laugh and feel relieved at his enthusiasm.

"Bella! It's so good to see you again!" he exclaimed in his booming voice. I just grinned back at him like an idiot.

"Stop crushing her! You'll ruin her dress," Rosalie warned her boyfriend sternly.

"Hi Emmett, it's good to see you too," I replied chuckling.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he muttered a little weakly after the scowl Rosalie had given him.

"Hi Rose," I greeted my friend and she hugged me softly.

"We've missed you Bella," she said sincerely.

"I have missed you too," I replied simply, touched by the gesture.

When I had first met Rosalie I had been extremely intimidated by her looks and I was afraid she was going to be rude and mean to me, I had expected her to think that a girl as plain as I was could never deserve to be around wonderful people like her and her family, but she turned out to be just as loving as the rest of the Cullens had been and she had welcomed me into their home like her sister.

"Bella it is wonderful to see you dear," Esme said when it was her turn to greet me.

I beamed back at the woman I had thought of as my second mother for so long. "It's good to see you again too," I replied.

"Hello Bella," Carlisle greeted me, holding out his hand for me to shake.

"Hi Carlisle," I replied softly.

Carlisle didn't look as welcoming as the rest of them had done. I had always thought of him as another father as well but something was off now. The rest just seemed genuinely happy to see me but Carlisle just seemed concerned for some reason, hurt even.

"Would it be alright for the two of us to talk for a little bit until we go in?" he asked me suddenly. I wondered what he wanted to talk to me about, I hadn't done anything wrong yet had I? Maybe he was asking me to stay away from his family, there had after all been a reason why they had all moved away without telling me.

"S-Sure," I muttered a little scared.

"Good, thank you. Let's go for a little walk," he suggested so we could get some privacy.

I tentatively walked after Carlisle until he stopped in front of a bench. "Let's have a seat for a moment," he said kindly.

"Alright," I replied timidly.

I didn't know what he wanted to talk to me about but he seemed very serious and since his welcome hadn't been as warm as the rest of them had been I was inclined to think that this wasn't going to be a conversation I was going to like.

"First of all, I wanted to say that I am very pleased to see you," he began kindly. "As much of a surprise as it was," he added with a smile.

"Yeah, I didn't really expect to find you guys here either," I replied simply.

"Right, well that's something we need to talk about for a little bit," he continued still not sounding unkind.

"Okay."

"Don't worry Bella, I just want to say that I am really sorry about the way we left, it was more than uncivil of us to do what we did to you, especially since all of us consider you to be family!" he stated to my surprise.

"You don't need to apologize," I said weakly.

"Oh but I do, as head of this family it is my job to protect every member in it and that includes you. I should have talked to Edward instead of letting him convince me to leave just like that," he said.

"It's okay." I didn't want Carlisle to feel sorry for me or to feel bad because of me.

"It's really not okay Bella. I have had numerous arguments with Edward ever since we left Forks. He has been sulking ever since we left and quite frankly it's really been wearing on all of us. We all feel bad for leaving you and we all should have tried harder to stop Edward. I don't want to go into too much details with you right now because I believe Edward and you need to talk this out for yourselves. But you've known Edward for a long time and you know how hard it is to convince him to change his mind once it's made up. That does not however mean that he is the only one to blame for this. Esme and I pride ourselves in always listening to our children whenever they have something they want and since Edward never really asked for anything and this seemed to be very important to him we tricked ourselves into believing that it would all be for the best. But we hurt you and that is something we should have never let happen. Something _I_ should have never let happen to you," he said sadly.

"I was mad at all of you for leaving me the way you did, I was heartbroken and I wanted to escape Forks as quickly as I could once I was done with high school because too much of it reminded me of all of you. I saw you all as my family too and you hurt me. But Alice explained a little what had happened and I can forgive you. I am just happy that I know you are all okay and that you do still care for me," I told Carlisle seriously.

"You are an amazing young woman Bella, I truly am sorry for the pain we have caused you. Please make sure you talk to Edward before you leave so he can have a chance to explain his motives. After that we will never bother you again if that is what you desire," he pleaded.

"Edward doesn't really seem to want to talk to me," I muttered weakly.

"He doesn't want to because he is ashamed but you two have to talk, I'm sure you will be able to work out this mess," Carlisle said confidently. "I have to have a talk with my son now too, I'll make sure he will explain everything to you."

"Thank you Carlisle," I replied sincerely.

"For what my dear?" he asked curiously.

"For this talk, I'm relieved to know you all still like me all the same and for showing me that I was really a part of your family and it wasn't just me making things up. When you left I felt like it had all just been a play you were performing, pretending to like me but finally you got fed up with me and that's why you left. I'm just thankful to see that that wasn't the case," I explained thoughtfully.

"Of course it wasn't a play! You were, _are_, a part of this family!" he stated firmly.

"Thank you," I said before Carlisle put his arms around me and pulled me in for a brief hug.

It was a relief to know that he still saw me as his daughter.

We walked back to the rest of the family and I could see the strained look on Edward's face from miles away. He probably wasn't happy that his father had tried to smooth things out with me, he probably would have just liked it better if I'd stayed away and he would have never had to have seen me ever again.

"Bella, would you mind going for a walk with me as well?" Edward asked insecurely.

"The show is starting in ten minutes guys, you won't be back on time," Alice warned.

Edward just glared at his sister trying to communicate something of vital importance it seemed. She just shrugged before turning her attention to me.

"We should go pick up the tickets now, how many should I pick up?" she asked me, giving me the option whether or not I wanted to have a chat with her brother.

"You guys go ahead," I replied with a tiny smile.

"Are you sure?" she said warily probably noticing the terrified expression on my face. I wasn't sure if I was ready for this talk yet but I guessed it would have to happen anyways.

"I'm positive," I said a little more surely this time.

"Alright then, let's go guys, the show is almost starting," she urged the rest of the family, giving us some privacy.

"Bye Bella, we'll see you later right?" Rosalie asked.

"Yes sure, I will see you after the show, have fun!" I replied trying my best to sound cheerful.

All of them waved goodbye at us. Then Edward started to walk away from the theatre, probably expecting me to follow him. I looked back at the Cullens once more and I noticed Alice was looking back at me as well. "You'll be fine," she mouthed at me. I just nodded at her, not sure whether she was going to be right but hoping she was.

Edward and I walked in silence for a little while, just strolling the streets of this beautiful city. I looked around trying my best to enjoy the view and not think about the boy who was leading the way right now.

But Edward came to a sudden stop after a few minutes and it almost caused me to bump into him. It startled me and I looked at him with a shocked expression on my face.

"Maybe we should sit somewhere?" he suggested.

"Sure," I replied hoping it would sound indifferent and not as shaky as I felt.

"This should do," he said as we stood in front of a tiny brick wall. He climbed on it and waited for me to do the same. I could see he was struggling, he looked like he had wanted to help me out but at the last minute had decided against it.

I managed to climb up on the little wall all by myself and we did have a nice view of the Eiffel Tower; it was gorgeous at night and even after two months here it still managed to take my breath away.

"I'm sure Alice and Carlisle already told you I was the reason we moved without saying anything to you?" he started uncomfortably.

It was weird to see him like this. In all the time I had known him, I had only seen Edward as this confident guy, on top of the world. It was a strange experience to see him struggle to find his words and to see him insecure.

"Something like that," I offered.

"They have every right to blame me because I am the one to blame," he said sadly.

"Why?" I asked.

I had told myself I would let him tell me his story but I couldn't help myself. I needed to know why he had felt the urge to crush me the way he had done.

"It's hard for me to explain but I have been thinking about it a lot and I know you deserve an explanation so bear with me alright?" he said.

"Alright," I replied tentatively.

"And promise me you won't say anything until I've said what I need to say." He was staring at me intently now and I had a hard time concentrating. So I just nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Alright, well… I don't really know where to begin with this. I have played my apology to you over and over in my head already but I never seemed to be able to get it quite right. I already know that I'll come out looking like a jerk and that doesn't even bother me as much, I have been a jerk to you Bella, a terrible friend and I don't know how I can make it right again but I hope after this you will be able to see my point as well," he began unsurely.

I didn't say anything, like he had requested, but my mind was working overtime, it was hard for me to see him this way. He had this guilty look on his face and he looked sad. I wanted to spare him but on the other hand I was mad at him for causing me as much pain as he had.

"You see, we have been friends for quite some time now and it was great! But from the moment I met you I knew I felt more for you than just friendship. That is what complicated it all. I knew I would never be good enough for you and at a certain point I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not like all the other boys you know. You must have noticed something strange about me and my family right? You are very observant so you couldn't have missed it. But you never asked, you just took us for what we were and kept being friends with us, even if you noticed that other people rather avoided us as much as possible."

I had noticed strange things about the Cullens and I had often wondered why that was but I never thought anything of it, they were my friends, my family. Everyone had a secret and it wasn't my intention to try and figure out theirs. I was sure they had a good reason for not filling me in.

"But like I said Bella, I liked you more than just as a friend. I fell in love with you so quickly. You're an amazing girl and all I wanted to do was spend time with you. I know this is contradictory to my actions but I promise you that you will understand soon enough. But it's not safe for you to get involved with me. Sure I had no delusions that you were actually also interested in me, why would you be? But the treat we posed on your life was always in the back of my mind. So at a certain point Alice told me that I should tell you how I felt about you and I snapped. I didn't want you to know how I felt about you because if, on the very off chance, you would actually feel the same way about me, I still couldn't be with you. The last thing I want to do is hurt you Bella, and I know that I have done so by the way I acted. I convinced my family that we should leave for your safety so my father took a position in the hospital here and I was pretty sure that France was far enough away to make sure we never ran into each other again and you would be able to forget all about us. I also chose Paris because I knew Alice was extremely upset with me and this was my peace offering. She loves fashion and she loves this city, she had always wanted to live her at a certain point in her life so I arranged it this way to make her a little happier about losing her best friend. But it didn't work out the way I wanted it to it seems. It seems I caused you more pain than I would have imagined in the first place, I caused my sister more pain than I had thought and I drove my family crazy with my constant bad mood. Being away from you was harder than anything I ever had to face before in my life. So I was moody, and gloomy and sad, all the time. My family couldn't stand to be around me. I argued with my father often, because he felt guilty for what we had done and because he didn't think I was doing right by you or by me for that matter. I am a mess without you Bella," he explained.

I just stared at him, dumbfounded. I couldn't make sense of what he was saying. He said he was in love with me. He should have just told me that before! And what was that crap about me not being safe around them? Anger was building up inside me and I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You're in love with me?" I spat at him rather rudely. "And you were too chicken to fess up so you moved to the other side of the world rather than talk to me?"

"I know it sounds bad but I really was only thinking about your best interest," he muttered a little taken aback by my anger.

I had never been angry with any of the Cullens, they all knew me as a happy girl so I could imagine how much of a shock this must be for Edward.

"What is that supposed to even mean? It's not _safe_ to be around you? That doesn't make sense whatsoever! You should have told me something, _anything_, but you shouldn't have just left without a word!" I accused him.

"I know Bella, believe me I know. But it isn't safe for you to be around us," he told me calmly, pain evident in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that? Why wouldn't it be safe?" I exclaimed confused.

"I'm not like other people," he said still calm. "You noticed that didn't you?"

"Well, yes," I replied more calm myself. "I noticed something was strange about you and your family of course, but I never thought much of it, you guys were amazing to me."

"What do you know about us?" he questioned, clearly trying to get some point across.

"I know that you're all pale, beautiful, you have the same golden eyes, you're cold as ice, you're hard as a rock, I've never seen you actually eat anything and you don't go out into the sunlight," I summarized calmly. I had been thinking about these weird fact about the Cullens a lot before and after they left but now that I actually said them out loud it sounded silly but they didn't sound human to me.

"That's right, why do you think that is?" he asked kindly.

"I'm not sure," I said truthfully. "You're not human?" I asked, knowing how silly I sounded.

"That's right," Edward said again.

"Then what are you?" I questioned.

"Vampires," he replied sadly.

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A/N**: _Thanks for reading, new update tomorrow :) Xxx_


	4. Scenery

**A/N**: _Thanks so much for reviewing, __**Sweetie7smiled**__, __**DizzyIzzyCullen**__ and __**Kristen Stewart Is My Life**__, you guys are completely awesome! :D_

_I won't really go into anything else for now and I'll just let you read today's chapter :) Enjoy and let me know what you thought of it :)_

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Scenery**

"V-Vampires?" I asked surprised. I had not seen that one coming.

"Don't be scared please, we're not regular vampires, we don't hurt humans," he explained quickly.

"I'm not scared," I replied and the moment the words were out of my mouth I knew how true they actually were. I didn't care that the Cullens were vampires. They were still my family and they had been nothing but nice to me before, except for the leaving without a trace part. "But that's why you left," I said rather than asked.

"That's right; it's not safe for you to be around us you see. We don't want to hurt humans but accidents do happen. I'm sorry we stayed around for as long as we did. I knew it was bad for us to become friends with you, a human, and I didn't want to jeopardize your life any longer so I decided we needed to move away from Forks and it would be easiest to leave without an explanation. I am sorry we did because it hurt you but I did truly believe that it was in your best interest," he said softly.

"It's alright." And I was telling the truth, I wasn't scared and I wasn't angry. I was rather flattered that he thought so much of me that he wanted to protect me even if it meant giving up everything they had had in Forks and moving to France. He hadn't said anything because he thought it would be easier this way but I still wasn't sure for whom it would be easier. So I asked him. "Easier for whom?"

"I have been trying to tell myself for two years now that it would be easier for you if we left without a word but the truth is that it was easier for me. Easier than facing you and telling you I had to leave, I didn't want the confrontation because I knew it would destroy me to see you upset; I probably wouldn't have been able to go through with it. And perhaps I would have told you how I felt and that would only make matters worse. So I left without saying anything and I have regretted it ever since," he said sincerely.

"You should've stayed," I told him for the first time really letting the hurt show.

"I'm so sorry Bella! Do you think you can ever forgive me?" he asked, intently gazing into my eyes with those beautiful golden colored orbs of his.

"I don't know, you hurt me really badly Edward," I said softly.

"I know, just tell me what I have to do to make it up to you and I'll do it, I promise!" he was begging now.

"I don't know," I muttered weakly, unable to think of anything else to say.

The truth was that I was already forgiving him and it wasn't healthy. The way he looked at me it felt like he was seeing straight into my soul.

"I'm leaving to go back to the US tomorrow so it really doesn't matter anymore anyways," I muttered weakly.

"You're leaving already?" Edward sounded upset. "It's only fair that I have to lose you so quickly after I've found you again," he muttered more to himself than to me.

"I don't know what to say Edward," I told him truthfully, my voice breaking and a tear running down my cheek. Stupid human emotions! I didn't want him to see me like this.

Edward moved his hand towards my face slowly and he softly brushed away my tear. The cold touch of his hand made me shiver but it felt good all the same. I involuntarily leaned closer towards him and I could smell his sweet scent. I had missed that scent. It had always had a calming effect on me and now that I could smell it again I was almost forgetting everything that had happened and all that I had felt for the past couple of years. I felt complete again.

It was clear to me that I still wasn't over Edward, if anything I loved him more than I had done before but it was pointless to act on it. I would probably never see him again after this and I didn't want to feel even more sad and hurt. I had had enough of that to last me a lifetime.

So I pulled back again, blushing slightly.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied softly, feeling a bit like an idiot for letting myself go in front of him like this.

"Good." he smiled a breathtaking smile at me and my heart started to flutter. "So this is your last night here then?" he asked conversationally.

"Yep," I said a little sadly.

"Then what do you want to do on your last night here?" he questioned. I could tell he was trying very hard to look cheerful so I wouldn't feel so bad and I was touched by the gesture.

I looked around for inspiration. I didn't know what I wanted to do; I hadn't really given it a lot of thought after I had seen Alice. But then I saw the Eiffel Tower and I remembered that I wanted to go up there for one last time before I left.

Edward didn't need any more encouragement than my longing look at the tower.

"Let's go," he said determinedly. He jumped off the wall we had been sitting on and he turned around with his arms extended towards me, ready to catch me.

I gave him a questioning look.

"You can trust me," he promised.

I knew that, but that didn't mean it would be good for me to be jumping into his arms. It would probably send all my hormones into overdrive. But if I wouldn't accept his help there was a large chance of me falling down and breaking something. Not that the wall was that high, but it was still an opportunity for my clumsiness to come barging in and ruin everything for me.

So I let myself slide down off the wall and into Edward's waiting arms. I threw my hands around his neck to steady myself and looked up into his eyes. That was a mistake because the look he was giving me threw me off balance and his crooked smile made my head swim. This boy was not good for my health or sanity!

His arms tightened around me for a second and he hugged me close to his body. He rested his head on top of mine. "It's so good to see you again Bella, you have no idea," he whispered softly.

I just hugged him back in response. I had to admit I was happy to see him again too.

Too soon for my liking he pulled back and took one of my hands in his. He started leading the way to the Eiffel Tower and I followed him willingly.

"You must have questions for me right?" Edward questioned after walking together in silence for a while.

"What do you mean?" I asked a little confused. I hadn't had any questions actually; I was just enjoying the moment.

"Well, you just found out that me and my family are vampires and you already didn't run away screaming like most _normal_ people would," he said jokingly. "But I'm sure you have to be curious about something?"

"Uuhm, I guess," I said a little uncomfortably. I wasn't sure if he was going to get angry with me if I was being too bold so I would rather not ask anything.

"You can ask anything you want Bella, I won't get mad at you," he promised.

Stupid guy! After so many years he could still read me like a book.

"What are you thinking off?" he questioned, noticing my chagrin.

"That it's annoying how you still always seem to know what I'm thinking," I muttered defeated.

"On the contrary actually! You're the only person I _can't_ read!" he said cryptically.

"What do you mean?" I questioned curiously.

"Well, I told you that I'm a vampire but I didn't tell you about the fact that some vampires have special abilities. Alice for instance can see the future and Jasper can influence people's emotions," he started seriously.

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yes."

"And you read people?" I asked intrigued.

"Yes, something like that, I can read everybody's mind except for yours," he said simply.

"Oh," was all I could manage.

After that the conversation flowed freely. I asked him all sorts of basic questions about his existence. He told me he didn't sleep and that most of the myths were based on lies to make people feel a little safer. He said they didn't go out into the sunlight because his skin would start to sparkle. I laughed because it all sounded so silly to me but he insisted and so I believed him. He continued by telling me that vampires have heightened senses, they can hear, see and smell a lot better than humans can, which makes them even more dangerous.

I asked him about his unusual eye color and he told me that normally vampires have blood red eyes but because he and his family don't drink human blood, only animal blood, their eyes have a golden color rather than red. It changes to black every time they are hungry or upset or excited. I had noticed the changing of the eyes frequently whenever I'd hung out with the Cullens but I had never thought much of it, although now it made so much more sense to me. All of it did.

By the time we arrived at the Eiffel Tower I had the feeling I knew everything there was to know about vampires and about the Cullens. Everything, except for one.

"How does one become a vampire?" I questioned.

We were in the elevator up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and I was happy that it was just the two of us, that way I had more time to question Edward.

Edward's lips pressed into a hard line and his eyes turned darker. I had to admit that I was a little scared of the angry expression on his face and I couldn't quite figure out what it was all about. "It's a very unpleasant experience," he said, slightly dogging the question.

"Alright, but how does it happen?" I asked again.

"I'd really rather not talk about it," he told me sternly.

"But you promised you would answer all my questions and that I could ask you anything without you getting mad at me, you must have seen this question coming right, it's such a logical one," I muttered defensively.

"You're right, I'm sorry, I did promise. You become a vampire through the venom of another vampire. When a vampire bites you but doesn't completely drain you of blood its venom gets absorbed into your system and it starts to spread through your entire body, slowly eating away at you," he said darkly. "It will slowly and painfully transform you from a living human to a dead vampire, the last step being stopping your heartbeat."

"Oh and how long does it take?" I asked, curious.

"Roughly three days. As a vampire you don't remember much about what happened before your transformation but you will always remember the pain of your transformation, no matter how hard you try to forget it."

"Why did Carlisle change all of you?" I questioned when the elevator reached the top floor.

I tentatively walked outside and it was nice to see that there weren't that many people out here. We could still carry on a conversation as long as we didn't actually mention the word vampire.

"Because we were all dying, he did it to save us," he said simply.

"So you have to be dying?" I asked.

"No that's just Carlisle, he would never do it if you had a choice to live," he explained.

"Oh," I said thoughtfully. "But what if you choose it?" I questioned boldly.

"Nobody in their right mind would ever choose this Bella!" he told me sternly. "It's not right! Nobody should want to become a monster!"

"You're not a monster," I argued.

"But I am, I killed people Bella," he whispered.

"That's your nature, it makes sense," I reasoned.

"That doesn't make it _right_!" He grinded his teeth.

"You're not a monster!" I said in my most final tone.

"You obviously don't see me clearly," he muttered probably more to himself than to me.

I decided I didn't want to argue with him anymore. I wanted the rest of the night to be nice and peaceful. I wanted to enjoy Edward's company one last time before I would have to go back to Forks and start living my life without Edward again.

Edward noticed that I was going to drop the subject and he seemed to let out a sigh in relief.

"It's so beautiful up here, it never ceases to take my breath away," I said contently staring at all the lights of the city I had come to love so much.

"I've seen more beautiful things," he said sweetly. When I turned around to ask him what he had seen that was more beautiful than the scene in front of us I noticed he was staring at me and I blushed, knowing now what he had meant by the statement. "You do truly look mesmerizing today Bella," he whispered softly.

I just blushed further and looked back to the view.

After a long moment of silence and just enjoying the view I felt Edward's arms snake around my waist and I felt how he let his head rest on top of mine. I leaned into him, eager to be close to the guy I loved. I was sad that I would have to leave Edward again pretty soon, especially now that I knew how he felt about me. And I realized I hadn't even told him that I felt the same way. But it would probably be mean to confess my feelings for him now, so close to leaving again. He would be better off not knowing.

Then I remembered that that was exactly what I had hated about them leaving, not knowing how they felt about me. I couldn't do that to Edward. But I didn't know how to bring it up now. I mean he had told me he was in love with me hours ago and it would be weird to just say it out of the blue. Had I really missed my chance to tell him? I didn't have the guts to bring it up myself. I could mentally slap myself.

"What are you thinking love?" Edward asked me softly.

My heart jumped when he called me love, he had never done that before. It sounded like he hadn't even thought about it but I couldn't help but feel euphoric when he said it.

"Uuhm," I mumbled. At least he had given me an opportunity to bring it up now. "Well, I was just thinking," I started a little insecurely. "When you said earlier how you felt about me, I didn't really respond to that," I told him trying to sound brave but failing miserably.

"I noticed," he said with a smile in his voice.

"I'm sorry about that, it was just a lot to take in," I said apologetically.

"I know, I'm sorry," he replied softly.

We didn't speak for a little while. I wanted to tell him how I felt but I was just a big fat coward. This was the perfect opportunity but I couldn't do it. He said he liked me, or rather that he was in love with me, but that doesn't mean that he actually meant it. I didn't want to make things awkward between us now.

"So how do you feel about me?" he asked me out of the blue, turning me around in his arms so he could set the full force of his eyes loose on me.

This was it! It wasn't going to get any easier than this. Just say: "Edward, I love you." How hard can that be?

"I-I'm…" I started muttering.

"Hi guys!" Emmett's booming voice interrupted us out of the blue.

He took in our body language and I'm sure he would be thinking the wrong thing by now.

"Emmett! I told you to give them some time!" Alice exclaimed at him.

"I didn't think you really meant it," he said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Why on _earth_ would I not mean that?" she said angrily.

"Right, sorry guys, didn't mean to interrupt, I'll leave you two alone now," he muttered while trying to avoid Alice's death glare.

"Well, that totally killed the moment," Edward muttered rather upset.

I chuckled. Emmett will be Emmett. But Edward's pout was adorable and it gave me a newfound courage to tell him how I truly felt about him.

"Edward, I'm in love with you. The reason I've been so devastated was because when you were gone I realized that I loved you and never got the chance to tell you. And the realization that you obviously didn't feel the same way hurt me more than anything in the world. But even though I have been angry at you for a long time, it seems my feelings for you never faded," I told him truthfully.

A breathtaking smile crossed over his face. He pulled me close to him and hugged me to his body. "I love you Bella," he whispered.

I buried my face in his shirt and I noticed tears were welling up in my eyes. After tomorrow I wouldn't see him again so this was all useless and I was extremely sad that we didn't have more time together. But I was still glad he seemed to feel the same way about me as I did about him.

"Ahum, I hate to interrupt, but it's almost midnight and Bella you have a very early morning tomorrow," Alice said apologetically.

"You're right," I replied reluctantly.

I pried myself away from Edward, who wasn't very willing to let me go just yet. "I really do have to go," I said sadly.

"Right, I'll take you home," he offered.

"Thank you." I smiled at Edward tentatively and he gave me a breathtaking smile in return.

We drove to my house in silence and when we reached the door it was officially time to say goodbye.

"At what time is your flight tomorrow?" Edward asked.

"Noon," I answered.

"Oh, alright," he said. Edward seemed to be deliberating something for a moment and I was about to ask him what it was but he spoke first. "So this is it?" he asked.

"I guess so," I muttered reluctantly.

"I'm sorry about everything."

"I forgive you," I said sincerely.

"Thank you, I'll always love you Bella," he said his voice thick with emotion.

"As I will love you," I replied with tears rolling down my cheeks.

Edward pulled me in for a hug and I hugged him back, planning on never letting him go again.

But I had to eventually let him go; there was no point in delaying the inevitable. I was going to lose Edward Cullen again. At least this time I knew how he felt about me and I was somewhat prepared. But it still hurt nonetheless. I looked up at Edward before placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Goodbye Edward," I said before opening the door and walking into the house.

"Goodbye Bella, I love you," he said sadly.

I closed the door and ran to my room before breaking down. I cried harder than I had ever cried before and I was scared that my loud sobs were going to wake the others in the house. My heart was broken and after a long time of crying I fell asleep completely drained and exhausted.

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A/N**: _I'm 99.9% certain that I'll be back tomorrow with chapter 5 :) But real life is really getting in the way with me lately so I can't promise it just yet :P But I can promise to do my best :) Let me know what you thought of the chapter :) Xxx_


	5. Airport

**A/N**: _Hi there, I luckily managed to write the remainder of this chapter yesterday so I can update today, yay! :D Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews __**Sweetie7smiled**__, __**Kristen Stewart Is My Life**__ and __**C Vannessa**! They make my day :)_

_To Sweetie7smiled: You might just be right, who knows ;) Oh right! I do! :D Thanks for the review! :)_

_To Kristen Stewart Is My Life: I'm sorry my chapter made you cry :( but it had to be done ;) And now you don't have to wait for more :) Thanks for reviewing! :)_

_To C Vannessa: Thanks so much for your review :) I'm glad you like my plot and writing so far :) Hope you continue to enjoy the story :) _

_To everyone: Here's chapter 5, I hope you enjoy it :) I am not sure yet whether I'm going to make the next chapter the last chapter of this story or whether it's going to be the one after that (probably the latter) but either way this story is going to be coming to an end pretty soon :) It's already longer than was my intention in the beginning but that was to be expected since I always have that when I'm writing something ;)_

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Airport**

Today was the day I was flying home. I was currently saying goodbye to Claire, Fleur and Pierre. They had all gotten up early to see me off. Fleur was crying and both Claire and I were very close to joining her. I had had a wonderful time with this family and I was sure going to miss them.

My taxi was already waiting outside and there wasn't much time left now.

"Goodbye Bella, and good luck with everything," Claire said as she pulled me in for one last hug.

"Merci Claire," I thanked her. "Au revoir."

I picked up Fleur next and hugged her close to me. I told her goodbye and I told her she had to be good to her parents. She promised me she would take care of them and that she would certainly come and visit me if she was ever in America. She also made sure I didn't forget about my promise to her. I was going to write her every week and she would do the same. Although in her case it would probably be her dictating her mother what to write in the email, since the girl couldn't really spell or actually send emails yet.

I know it probably wouldn't last, what kind of girl stayed in touch with a babysitter that she had only known for two months when she was four? But it was still very nice that she wanted to put in the effort at least.

"Good luck with your studies Bella, it was a pleasure having you here," Pierre said kindly before shaking my hand.

"Thank you for having me here," I replied gratefully. "I had a wonderful time."

I said my final goodbyes to the family and walked out the door. I stepped into the cab and looked back at the beautiful house one more time. I was really going to miss it here.

The taxi driver quickly maneuvered the cab through the streets of Paris and before I knew it we reached the airport. I paid the driver and made my way to the gate. I was too early but that was alright. I could look around the airport for a little bit and maybe pick up some souvenirs for my best friend Jacob and for Charlie and Renée. I had already bought souvenirs for them in practically every country I had visited during my trip but for some reason I had forgotten to buy them something in the one place where I had stayed for longer than a week.

I browsed around the airport after I had passed the security and to my relief there were still some things I could buy. So I picked up a scarf for Renée, a book about Paris for Charlie and a couple of magazines about cars and engines and all sorts of boyish stuff for Jake. Sure the magazines didn't have much to do with Paris but I didn't know what else Jake would like and I had already bought him more appropriate little gifts in all the other places I had gone so now I was simply out of inspiration and not really in the mood to actually look hard for something nice for him.

After an hour or so of just mindlessly walking around the airport I let myself fall down on one of the chairs they had at my gate. I still had some time to kill and it wasn't ideal but at least I was on time and now I had some time to think back to my trip.

I had seen so many places in the time I had been gone it was unbelievable. I had actually seen all these places I could only dream about when I had been a little girl. I had been to Rome, Barcelona, Athens, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin and many more places. Even though all these places were amazing and I had loved every minute I had spent there, Paris would always be the most special to me, both because of the time I had spent there and the fact that Edward had told me he loved me there.

Edward. I was really going to miss him, I already did. Now that I knew why he had left and all the other things I now knew about him, all the anger and hurt I had felt because of him had been replaced by pure love. I wasn't sure yet which was going to be worse because now that meant I had to lose him all over again. I would never see him again. I was going to be studying for the coming years and I wouldn't have enough money to come to Paris and visit the Cullens and I'm sure he wouldn't be very interested in a vacation in Washington, how interesting could that be for a guy like Edward?

A vampire. I still couldn't believe that Edward and the Cullens were vampires. Carlisle was a doctor for crying out loud! There was no way an evil vampire would be a doctor. Surely I knew the Cullens were evil but it still seemed _unnatural_ to me for Carlisle to be around blood all day every day. It would be like working in something like a bakery all the time and not being allowed to eat anything while at the same time starving. I shivered at the thought of having to go through that. I couldn't think help but admired Carlisle incredibly for caring so much for humans to be able to stand all of that.

I was completely lost in thought and I didn't give my surroundings a second thought. So it surprised me when all of a sudden I thought I heard someone yell my name. It came from far so at first I didn't pay much attention to it, surely there would be more people at this airport with the name Bella. But then I heard it again and there was something very familiar about the voice.

"Bella? Where are you?" I heard a velvety voice and all of a sudden I knew all too well who that voice belonged to.

"Edward?" I asked surprised, scanning my surroundings for his beautiful face.

It wasn't long before I located him, he came running towards me. I wondered how he had been able to get past the security without a boarding pass but then again he was Edward so he could do anything.

"Bella there you are, thank God I'm not too late yet!" he said as soon as he reached me.

"What are you talking about? What are you doing here?" I asked him confused.

I knew it was strange but for some reason I had expected Edward to be panting right about now, the look on his face told me that he had been running for quite a while. But of course that wouldn't affect him the way it affected us _normal_ people.

"I came to see you," he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Why?" I asked him confused.

"Because I don't want to never see you again," he stated simply.

"I don't see how it could be any other way, you have your life here and your family and I have to go back to the US because school starts not too long from now," I said sadly.

"I know you have to go back and I'm not saying you should stay here," he started softly.

"Then what are you saying?" I asked.

"Before I can tell you, I want you to tell me something alright?" Edward was gazing into my eyes and he almost made me lose my train of thought. My head was starting to swim and to make sure I didn't sound like a total idiot I just nodded my head, waiting for him to continue. "Well, remember what we talked about yesterday, and what you found out and everything?" he asked.

"Sure, I remember," I answered simply, wondering where he was going with this.

"Right well I need to know if you've changed your mind about me. Because you were okay with everything yesterday and you said you loved me no matter what but now you have had some time to think about it and I was wondering if you still love me," he said sounding uncharacteristically unsure.

I thought about what he was asking me for a moment. I didn't really know where he was going with all of this but no matter how hard I tried to think about changing my mind about him, telling him that I didn't love him anymore and just going back to the way my life had been before I knew all of this about him, my heart was screaming at me to tell Edward that I still loved him, because that was all I felt. My entire body was filled with love for Edward and not any detail about Edward's life, no matter how small or big, would be able to change that now.

"I haven't changed my mind about you Edward, I love you," I replied sincerely.

"Good," he replied, sounding relieved.

"What's this all about?" I pressed.

"I have spent the entire night wandering through Paris and I realized something, something I had known all along but have been trying to fight ever since we left Forks. I love you Bella, more than anything in the world and there is nothing I'd rather do than to spend eternity with you," he said sweetly, making my heart melt.

"But we're going to be miles apart," I said sadly.

"Not necessarily," Edward stated cryptically, with a small smile on his lips.

"I don't follow," I said confused.

Sure geography had never been my strongest subject but as far as I knew there were many, many miles between Washington and Paris and there was no way that was going to change. Unless Edward was going to try and push Europe towards the United States but I doubted that he would really be that crazy or powerful even.

"Well, after I was done walking around Paris I went back to our house and I talked to my family. They had noticed how much it had hurt me to stay away from you and they didn't want to see me go through all of that again. Now for most of my family members it doesn't really matter where they live, I know they always loved to live in Forks, which is why we have been coming back there more than we have been anywhere else in the world. But for Alice, she loves Paris, she loves the fashion and her shop is going really well. I told her that I don't want to take anything away from her. Even though she said she wouldn't really mind and that she missed you too, I know my sister and she would be sad to leave this town. Everyone has been enjoying life in Paris so much and I don't want them to have to pack up and leave before they are ready to move on, which is an inevitability for us. So I talked to Carlisle and we agreed, that I would move back to the US by myself and they would join me as soon as they were ready to move on from France," Edward explained.

"So wait, you want to leave your family?" I asked surprised.

"I'm not much use to them when I'm as heartbroken as I have been up until now," he stated simply. "But of course I understand if you don't want me to come to Washington with you or anything and I'm not saying that that was my plan. I will move back to Forks, back into the house where we had lived in before and that way there would not be a huge ocean keeping us apart and it would be easier for us to see each other," he added quickly.

I had to process what he was saying but I didn't have much time because the boarding process was about to begin and I had to leave. Edward had just told me that he wanted to move away from his family just because of me. I didn't want to do that to him. There was no way he could be happy living in boring old Forks all by himself. And it wouldn't be nice for him to be living with me in Washington either. I simply couldn't let him do this to himself.

"Edward," I said sadly. "I don't think that is such a good idea."

Edward just stared at me for a little bit and I tried hard to avoid his gaze. I could still notice the hurt in his eyes.

"It's not because I don't love you," I added quickly. "I do, I love you very much. But," I started my argument. I knew that if I would tell him that it was for his own good he would argue with me. I had known him for quite some time now and if things hadn't changed over the past two years, which I suspected they hadn't, he was still very stubborn. So I had to come up with another reason of why he couldn't come with me. Edward had always valued education and the moment I remembered that I had my answer. "I think I need to focus on school completely for the coming time. High school is already a year ago and I just don't know if I'll be able to keep up with all the work if I have any distractions," I said softly.

"Oh, I see," he said sadly. I couldn't take the hurt in his eyes. I didn't want to cause Edward pain and it was causing me pain to have to say this but I couldn't ask him to give up his life just for me, no matter how hard he was trying to convince me that this was what he wanted. If there was a way for me to be with him without him having to make any sacrifices I would do it in a heartbeat but I had to finish school and I couldn't stay away from Charlie for any longer, he wouldn't be able to handle that. So my only option was to live my life without Edward, at least for the coming few years. I didn't have a choice.

"I'm sorry Edward," I said knowing that it wouldn't matter anyways. I was hurting Edward, and myself for that matter, but it was all going to work out for the best in the end.

I looked at the line at the gate and I noticed that there were only very few people standing there. I noticed Edward following my gaze and his expression turned hard for a moment.

"You have to go," he stated.

"Yes," I said sadly. "I am really sorry Edward, but it will be for the best," I tried once more.

"Right, okay. Well I guess I won't be needing this anymore so why don't you take it?" he said while handing me something that looked like a plane ticket. "I can't stand the thought of you flying economy class when I have tickets for business class," he said with a hint of a smile on his lips but it didn't touch his eyes.

"Edward," I said and I waited for him to look at me before I continued. He slowly turned his gaze towards me and I saw he was fighting to keep his expression composed. "I truly do love you, more than I have ever loved anyone before," I said knowing it would probably not matter much anyways.

"I love you too Bella," he replied sincerely.

I was out of time. So I quickly closed the distance between me and Edward and did something I had never thought would happen. I threw my arms around Edward and quickly brought my lips to his. I let all the passion and love I felt for Edward show through the kiss and it was more amazing than anything I had ever experienced before. The feel of Edward's arms around my waist and his lips against mine was something I wasn't easily going to forget and it would be a memory I would cherish forever.

The woman behind the counter announced the last call for my flight and I knew that this was the last time I was going to see Edward. So I kissed him again softly.

"Goodbye Edward, I love you," I mumbled softly, my voice breaking.

"Goodbye Bella, I love you too. I hope you'll have everything you've ever wanted," he said sincerely.

That was not going to be an option for me though, I would never have Edward and it was my own fault. But as long as it was what was best for Edward I could live with that.

I boarded my plane and took my seat in the business class and the moment I touched down on the seat I couldn't control my tears any longer and I started breaking down, I started crying harder than I had ever done before.

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A/N**: _Well there's an ending of a chapter I didn't even see coming before I started to write it :P I hope you're not too mad :) I'm pretty sure I'll be back tomorrow with the next update :P At this point I'm trying to write as quickly as I can while it all still making sense and coming out the way I want it to come out so it might be that I'll only be uploading the day after tomorrow if that's what it takes so bear with me :) Xxx_


	6. Airplane

**A/N**: _Hello everyone who is not so mad at me that they've stopped reading after the last chapter ;) Sorry about that, like I said, I didn't even see that one coming but that keeps it interesting now doesn't it? ;) Don't worry though, I'm always an "And they lived happily ever after" kind of girl ;) Anyways, as always a big thanks to all my wonderful reviewers: __**DizzyIzzyCullen**__, __**jadeEyre**__, __**Kristen Stewart Is My Life**__ and __**C Vannessa**! _

_To DizzyIzzyCullen: Haha don't worry luckily for Bella there's always _someone_ around to knock some sense into that girl, she really seems to need it ;)_

_To jadeEyre: Thanks for the review :) look no further, here is more ;)_

_To Kristen Stewart Is My Life: I'm glad you liked the chapter so much with all the mixed feelings ;) thanks for reviewing and I'm flattered you think all my stories are great :) You're awesome for reviewing every chapter :) _

_To C Vannessa: I hate it when people don't update quickly for stories so I always try to avoid waiting too long with the next chapter and I'm glad you appreciate it :) Thanks so much for reviewing! :) I hope you let me know what you think of my other stories as well if you're going to read them :)_

_To everyone: Here's chapter 6. I've just finished writing the entire story and there will only be one more chapter after this *sad face* But the good news is that I will be able to update again tomorrow as well so you guys don't have to wait for long after today ;) Anyways, I've babbled enough ;) enjoy the chapter! :)_

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Airplane**

After the plane had taken off and we were well on our way to the US a flight attendant came around with drinks and when she noticed me she called one of her colleagues to take over for her for a moment. I had my face buried in my hands but I could feel the woman went to sit down in the empty chair next to me.

"Are you alright Miss?" she asked me softly.

"Not really," I muttered. I know it was stupid, I should just say I am fine and let her get back to work but somehow I really needed someone to talk to right now.

"What's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"It's kind of a long story," I said apologetically.

"I have time," she offered.

I gave her the cliff notes version of the story with me and Edward, leaving out anything that wasn't completely vital to understanding my situation. Throughout my explanation the woman remained silent and when I was done she was very sympathetic.

"I am so sorry for you," she said kindly. "Are you absolutely sure you made the right decision though? It seems to me that this boy could care less where he lived as long as he is with you," she offered cautiously.

"But that doesn't mean it will make him happy to live without his family," I said weakly.

"Well, I don't know him of course but it seems like he really loves you and from what I can tell you feel the same way about him. If I would love someone the way the two of you seem to love each other I wouldn't let go so easily," she said. I know I could be offended by what she was saying, implying that I was giving up, but I could tell she was genuinely concerned for me and that she really only tried to help me.

"I don't know what to do," I said weakly.

"Is there someone you could call to talk about this?" she asked.

I gave her question some thought and I realized there really only was one person I would like to talk this over with and that was Alice. "Alice," I said as if the woman would automatically know who I was talking about.

"Why don't you give Alice a call then?" she suggested.

I stared at her incredulously for a moment. Did she not realize we are in the air? Cell phones aren't really allowed during the flight…

"That's one of the many good things about business class," she said with a wink while pointing at a phone in the seat. I hadn't even noticed that before and I could slap myself.

"Oh," I said dumbly while blushing heavily.

"I'll leave you to your conversation, if you need anything just let me know alright?" she said sweetly.

"Yes, thank you very much and I'm sorry for this," I apologized a little ashamed.

"That's no problem at all, I really hope it all works out for you," she said before walking away.

I dialed Alice's number and I was surprised to see hear her voice almost immediately.

"Bella! How could you do that?" she answered the phone sounding rather angry.

"How did you…? Right, psychic," I muttered. "Hi Alice," I added weakly.

"Don't hi Alice me! I saw what happened between you and Edward and what it did to Edward as well as what it did to you! Why did you do that?" she said.

"I…" I muttered a little taken aback by her tone.

"Bella, I care about you as much as I care about my brother and it isn't good for either of you to be away from each other," she said a little more calmly. "And now you have convinced Edward that you don't want to be with him and he is devastated," she continued.

"I didn't want to do that but he was willing to give up his family to come and live in Forks for _me_. He could never be happy that way!" I exclaimed defensively.

"Are you kidding me Bella? You have not had to live with him for the past two years, being away from _you_ is the only thing that makes him unhappy! He can live without us for a few years, it's not like he hasn't done that before. And Edward loves Forks. And he loves you Bella! I don't understand why you can't see that! There is no way for either of you to be completely happy without the other, I have seen it and trust me; it isn't pretty!" she said sternly.

"I don't know what to do Alice," I muttered weakly.

"You have to convince Edward that I'm right and you were wrong," she said sounding rather smug.

"This is such a mess," I replied softly.

"Yes, stupid split second decisions, first Edward going to the airport at the very last minute and now you deciding last minute that you don't want Edward to come. How am I supposed to help you people when you don't _think_ before you _act_?" she said annoyed.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Bella, it's not your fault but you do have to fix this mess with Edward, neither of you can live without the other, I have seen it, you guys are a mess! So if you want I can make him come to the phone?" Alice offered.

"I'm not sure he wants to talk to me," I muttered.

"He doesn't really have a choice now does he? How long have you known me Bella? Give me some credit please!" Alice said and I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was rolling her eyes at me.

"Right, alright then, I guess," I said unsurely. I didn't know how I was going to fix this with Edward. Over the phone felt like the coward thing to do, but I didn't have the money to fly back to Paris to do it in person so this would have to do.

"Good," Alice replied chipper.

"Thank you Alice," I said softly.

"No problem at all, I just want you to be happy," she said. I heard her knock on a door and I assumed it was Edward's room.

"Go away Alice," I heard softly on the other side of the line.

"Not a chance brother dear," Alice replied smugly.

"What do you want _now_? Everything you have done so far has only caused me more pain." Even from afar I could hear the hurt in his voice and it made me cringe.

"Look that was all a big misunderstanding, so whether you like it or not, you're going to have to deal with this," I heard Alice say before I heard a door open and I could only imagine that it was Alice barging into Edward's room. "This is a phone, you hold it to your ear and you talk to the person on the other line," Alice said as if she was explaining something to a child and I couldn't suppress a giggle.

"I still don't see what good that would do but if that makes you leave my room, fine," I heard Edward mutter, his voice closer to the phone this time. "Hello?" his beautiful voice was directed at me now.

"Edward," I breathed with a knot in my stomach.

"Bella?" he questioned.

"Yes it's me," I replied softly.

"What's going on? Are you alright?" He probably noticed from the tone of my voice that I had been crying.

"No I'm not really, I made a huge mistake and I'm so sorry!" I started crying again.

"Bella, calm down love, what is going on? Where are you now?" he asked, sounding rather worried.

"I'm on the plane home," I said weakly.

"Oh, right," he said with a voice that broke my heart.

"Edward, I'm so sorry for what I said at the airport, it had nothing to do with my school, I'll be able to manage school even with some distractions," I blurted out.

"What are you saying?" Edward asked calmly.

"I didn't send you away because I was afraid you were going to give me too much of a distraction from my schoolwork, I can handle that. I just didn't realize that the only thing I can't handle is to be away from you," I explained a little more calmly now. "I said I didn't want you to move because it didn't seem fair to me that you would be away from your family for so long and that you would give up everything you have and move back to boring old Forks just for me. I felt guilty for even making you think about that. I was afraid you were going to be unhappy so I made up the school excuse because I knew that was going to be the only thing that would actually convince you that it was better for you to stay in France," I rushed.

"Bella, I never liked France all that much until I saw you in Paris. I don't need to be with my family now, we have forever together. Being away from my family for a few years wouldn't kill me, being away from you while knowing that we could probably be happy together would! That's why I wanted to come back to Forks. I like Forks a lot and I just wanted to be closer to you," Edward said calmly.

"I know, Alice explained it to me. I'm sorry Edward! I'm so stupid!" I said before letting out a loud sob.

"Bella, please don't cry, it's going to be alright love," Edward tried to comfort me.

"Am I too late?" The words were out before I realized it and I felt stupid for asking but I needed to know the answer nonetheless.

"If you would have called me when you were eighty you still wouldn't be too late love, I'd do anything to be with you," he said with what sounded like a smile in his voice.

My heart let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry Edward, I want nothing more than to be with you," I said softly.

"Same here love," he said sweetly.

"But I don't want you to live in Forks," I said determinedly.

"Bella," he started his argument.

"I want you to live with me in Washington! We've been too far away for far too long!" I interrupted him.

"Oh, I see, I can live with that," he said jokingly.

"Unless you think it's going to be too difficult for you to live with me that is," I added cautiously.

"Not at all love, I can handle it if you can handle living with me," he replied sincerely.

"I can handle it," I assured him.

"Great! I guess I'll go have another talk with my family then, telling them the plan is back on," he said thoughtfully.

"Yes," I agreed.

"And then I'll pack my belongings and be on my way to you as soon as I can alright?" he offered.

"I would like nothing more than that!" I replied enthusiastically. "Can you make it sooner though?" I asked jokingly.

I heard Edward chuckle on the other side of the line and the sound of his laugh was like music to me. "We've waited for as long as we have, another day won't kill us now would it?" he said softly.

"No, I guess not," I muttered.

"Good, I'll be there before you know it and in the meantime you can get caught up with your friends and family," he suggested.

"Sounds like an amazing plan to me," I replied enthusiastically.

"I thought so too," he said rather smugly and I just laughed. "I'll see you soon then love."

"Yes, see you _very_ soon," I emphasized.

Edward laughed again. "Are you sure you are alright for now?" he asked changing the tone again.

"Yes, I'm good now, better even, I'm great!" I assured him.

"That's good," he replied with a smile in his voice.

"What about you? Are you going to stop giving Alice a hard time?" I asked.

"It would do the pixie some good to have a little bit of a hard time every now and then," he said jokingly. "But yes, since everything worked thanks to her I guess I can let her off the hook for now."

"Good, she's a really great friend," I said smilingly.

"I know," Edward agreed with me.

"Bye Edward, I love you!" I said.

"Goodbye Bella, I will see you very soon, I promise. I love you too," he replied before we both hung up the phone.

I sat back in my chair and decided to enjoy the rest of the flight home in business class. That was certainly an experience I had never had before and it was worth enjoying. I let out a content sigh and smiled at my favorite flight attendant who was passing out drinks.

"So it all worked out?" the flight attendant asked kindly.

"Yes, everything is perfect now," I replied happily.

"I'm very glad to hear that!" she said while returning my smile.

"Thank you very much and I'm sorry about earlier," I said a little ashamed.

"I'm happy to help and there is no need to apologize, from what I heard I would probably be an even bigger mess if something like that would have happened to me," she replied with a wink.

I just smiled back at her.

The rest of the flight passed by quickly. I slept through most of it, having beautiful dreams about seeing Edward again in a few days.

When the plane landed I started to worry about how I was going to tell my father about the new development, I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy to hear that Edward was going to be living with me after everything he and his family had put me through. But he was just going to have to deal with it. I wasn't going to tell him today though; I just wanted him to enjoy me being home for a little while before bursting his bubble.

I was welcomed by Charlie, Renée and Jacob at the gate and I ran towards them, careful not to trip over the flat surface of the airport floor, and threw myself into the arms of my parents.

"Hi Bells," Charlie said happily when I pulled back.

"Hi dad," I replied softly.

"Bells!" Jacob said enthusiastically before picking me up and spinning me around like I was some kind of little girl.

"I'm happy to see you again too Jake!" I said in between giggles.

"Oh Bella we've missed you so much!" my mom sobbed before pulling me in for another hug.

"I have missed you all too," I replied softly.

"You look happy," Jake noted.

"I am happy Jake, really happy," I assured him.

"That's good to hear, at least your trip to Europe wasn't for nothing then," he noted with a wink.

And you don't even know the half of it! I thought with a smile.

"It certainly wasn't," I replied.

We drove back to Forks and I told all of them all my stories, leaving out the part about the Cullens for now, during the drive. I was happy that Renée didn't have to leave just yet; she was staying at a small hotel near Forks so I would have at least a little time longer to catch up with her. And hopefully introduce her to Edward, since they had never met before. But I would have to break the news to them carefully.

Jacob and Renée both stayed over at Charlie's house when we arrived there for a little longer and I gave them all the presents I had bought them during my trip. We chatted for a long time and it felt very nice to be with my family again.

I went to bed early, still tired from my flight, but not before having to promise Renée that I would spend tomorrow with her. It wasn't a hard promise to make because Charlie had to go back to work and I had missed my mother terribly. I was looking forward to just spending the day with her. I could tell her all about Edward and the Cullens then, well not _all_ since I would have to leave out all the supernatural business but at least I could tell her how much I loved Edward. And tomorrow at dinner I would tell Charlie as well, so he wouldn't be surprised when Edward would show up at his doorstep the next day.

In bed I decided to call Edward again and tell him that I had arrived home in one piece and that I couldn't wait to see him again.

After a brief conversation he wished me goodnight and I told him I couldn't wait to be with him again. I fell asleep with a smile on my face. My life wouldn't get much better than this.

**

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A/N**: _Hope you all liked the chapter :) As always I love reviews! :) *not so subtle hint ;)* I'll be back tomorrow with the last chapter :)_


	7. Reunion

**A/N**: _Hi everyone, here it is, the very last chapter of this story. I really enjoyed writing it and I hoped you all enjoyed reading it too! Thanks to __**DizzyIzzyCullen**__, __**Raven's twimom**__, __**jadeEyre**__, __**Kristen Stewart Is My Life**__, **C Vannessa **__**Sweetie7smiled**__ and **Shirley** for reviewing :) You guys are awesome! :)_

_To DizzyIzzyCullen: I'm sorry that this is already the last chapter but I always intended this to be a rather short story. But since the story initially started out as an idea for a one shot it's already way longer than I would have thought ;)  
To Raven's twimom: I'm glad you're enjoying my story :) I'm flattered that your daughter recommended my story to you :) Thanks for reading and reviewing! :)  
To jadeEyre: I'm glad you liked the chapter ;) I didn't want to make it too hard on Bella and Edward; they've already been apart for far too long don't you agree? :P Thanks for reviewing! :)  
To Kristen Stewart Is My Life: Thanks for all the praise :) And now you don't have to wait for more ;) Enjoy the last chapter! :)  
To C Vannessa: You're very welcome for the happy chapter ;) Couldn't have Bella and Edward being sad for much longer anyways ;) By the way I just noticed if I just type C Vannessa with the period in place that fanfic automatically deletes your name for some reason... So that's also why your name wasn't in the previous chapter(s) :S Just so you know that I didn't deliberately leave you out ;) But I changed it now so that you are in my author's notes :)  
To Sweetie7smiled: I'm glad you liked it ;) Thanks for reviewing! :)  
To Shirley: I'm glad you're at least feeling well enough to read some chapters already :) Thanks for leaving me a review! You rock! :) I'm looking forward to the rest of your reviews :) Get well soon! :)  
_

_Well this is really it :) Enjoy the last chapter and as always let me know what you think! :)_

**

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Reunion**

Today was the day I was going to see Edward again. I had gotten back to Forks two days ago and I had spent all of yesterday catching up with my mother as well as with Jacob and my father.

By now I had told all of them about Edward and that he was coming back to be with me. Renée had been ecstatic thankfully. So it had been great telling her.

"_Mom, I have to tell you something," I started cautiously. _

_I felt very uncomfortable and I wasn't sure if I _really_ wanted to go through with this but I didn't really have a choice. Surely someone would eventually find out and then I would be in big trouble for not telling my parents or anyone else for that matter._

"_What is it sweetie?" she asked kindly but curiously. It wasn't often that I was uncomfortable discussing something with my mother so of course her interest was immediately spiked. _

"_Well, you remember Edward Cullen right?" I said nervously shifting my wait in the chair I was currently sitting in. _

"_I never met the guy but I remember you mentioning him yes. Isn't he the boy who moved away without letting you know where he went or that he was moving in the first place?" she asked. _

"_Yep, that's the one," I replied with a nervous laugh. _

"_What about him?" she encouraged me. _

_I explained the whole situation to my mother in detail, how I had met Alice in her store up until the point where Edward told me he loved me. My mother just listened quietly and waited for me to finish my story before speaking. _

"_That's wonderful honey!" she said enthusiastically. "I always knew there was something more between the two of you than just friendship! The way you always spoke about him even after he had left, it was so full of love."_

_I was a little taken aback by her enthusiasm but this wasn't going to be the hardest thing to tell her. I hadn't told her about the scene at the airport nor what had happened during my flight. _

"_Yes, well there's more," I said softly. _

"_Tell me," she urged. _

_Then I told her about the scene at the airport, not leaving out any details. _

"_Oh that's so romantic!" she exclaimed happily. "But where is he now then?" she questioned curiously. _

"_Well, I kind of told him not to come to Forks," I said a little embarrassed. _

"_But why on Earth would you do that?" she exclaimed horrified. _

_So I explained my motives and thinking back on them made me realize how stupid they actually were. But my mother was wise enough not to comment until I got to the part about the airplane and the arrangement that was the result of that flight. _

"_Wow, you're going to live with him?" she said surprised after I'd told her the entire story. _

"_Yes, that's the plan. We have been away from each other for far too long and I don't want him to be in Forks when I'm in Washington," I explained cautiously. _

"_I think that's a great idea sweetheart! You always do what's right for you so I'm sure you know what you're doing now as well," she said sincerely. _

I was happy Renée had taken it all so well. I had been afraid that she was going to be horrified. Even though Edward and I weren't getting married I was still afraid that Renée thought I was going to make the same mistake she had made with Charlie, getting married too young.

Telling Jacob hadn't been an issue really. He supported my decision; he only had one question though.

"_Are you sure he can make you happy? I remember what a mess you were when they just up and left," Jacob asked cautiously after I'd told him the entire story. _

"_He had his reasons for leaving and I am positive that he will make me extremely happy," I told Jacob sincerely. _

"_Then I'm happy for you," he replied before hugging me. _

However, Charlie was an entirely different story. I knew Charlie had held a grudge against the Cullens ever since they left me. Especially because he had witnessed close up what it had all done to me at the time. He couldn't care less about getting married at a young age, he is still convinced marrying Renée was the best thing he ever did. And he would fully support me in living together with someone at my age. As long as that someone wasn't a Cullen.

_In order to prepare for my conversation with Charlie I had made sure to make Charlie his favorite dish for dinner. I had set the table and I had made sure everything looked especially nice for tonight when Charlie came home from work. _

"_I have definitely missed you around the house Bells," Charlie greeted me happily when he walked through the door. _

"_Hi dad," I replied nervously. _

"_It looks great!" Charlie commented as he sat down at the table. _

"_Thanks," I said still not relaxing. _

"_Are you alright Bella?" Charlie asked while raising his eyebrows at me. "You seem a little nervous."_

_Sure _now_ he would start paying close attention to me!_

"_I'm fine dad," I said trying to sound confident. "There is something I would like to discuss with you if you don't mind?" _

"_Sure Bells, fire away," he encouraged me. _

"_Well, you remember the Cullens right?" I started cautiously just like I had done with Renée and Jacob. But I knew for a fact that this conversation was not going to be anywhere near as easy as the others had been. _

_I could see Charlie's expression harden and I could tell he had problems keeping his anger in control. "Sure," he grumbled. This was not going to be an easy task!_

"_Well, I met Alice in Paris; they are all living there no." I tried to sound cheerful. _

"_So that's where they went when they left you the way they did," he said with chagrin. _

"_Uuhm yes, about that," I replied uncomfortably. "I talked to all of them and they are really sorry for what they did, they explained everything to me and I forgave them."_

_I was a coward for not bringing up Edward just yet but I was simply too afraid of Charlie's reaction._

"_You _forgave_ them?" Charlie exclaimed surprised and angrily. _

"_Yes, they left because of Carlisle's job and they didn't tell me because that way it would be easier for me to get over them leaving," I told him the half-truth. _

"_Why on Earth would they think that?" Charlie was still not calm. _

"_Well, I don't know," I said softly, not sure what else to tell Charlie. I couldn't really tell him that they did it to protect me because they were vampires and it wasn't safe for me to be around them now could I? _

"_So that's it then, just like that you forgive them for causing you two years of misery. I saw you Bella, you were heartbroken. They were your friends and they left you without a trace!" he said harshly. _

"_I know, but they really believed they were doing right by me. What hurt the most of them leaving without a word was the thought that they didn't love me and that turned out to be false, they do still love me!" I defended the Cullens. _

"_You don't just leave someone if you love them," Charlie replied bitterly. _

_I knew he wasn't just talking about the Cullens anymore. Renée had hurt him by leaving him and taking me with her so many years ago and I knew that that was the main reason he was upset with the Cullens. Charlie knew the pain I went through because he had felt the same kind of pain. _

"_There's more isn't there?" Charlie said after I had been quietly shifting my weight in my chair, trying to bring up the courage to tell him about Edward. _

"_Yes dad there is more," I said softly. "But you have to promise me you won't get mad or upset," I urged. _

"_I'll try," he replied. _

_I eyed him for a little bit, waiting for him to have full control over his emotions and he worked hard on steadying himself. _

"_Alright, well you remember Edward right?" I started cautiously._

"_Yes," Charlie said, working hard to keep his tone indifferent and distant. _

"_Well, he was also the main reason it hurt so much that they had left," I continued. _

"_He was a close friend," Charlie noted. _

"_Yes, he was, but it was more than just that," I replied uncomfortably. _

"_You love him." It wasn't a question. _

_I just nodded my head. I could tell Charlie wasn't happy with this information but he kept his promise and he worked hard on his expression. _

"_Does he love you too?" he questioned after a moment of silence._

"_Yes, very much so in fact," I told him cautiously._

"_So what happens now? Are you moving back to France?" he asked slightly panicked. _

"_No! Dad, no! I'm going to Washington remember," I said quickly. _

"_Alright, then what?" he pressed. "I don't suppose you kids would like a long-distance relationship so are you ever going to see him again?"_

"_Well, actually, Edward is moving back to America," I replied. _

"_He's moving back… For you?" Charlie asked thoughtfully._

"_Yes, he regrets leaving and he felt just as miserable as I did for two years," I explained. _

"_So where will he be living then? I don't suppose he's going to live in that big house of theirs all by himself now is he?" Charlie asked suspiciously. _

"_No dad, he isn't, he's going to live with me in Washington." There I'd said it. _

Now I could laugh about the look on Charlie's face when he found out but it hadn't been easy to calm him down and convince him that everything was going to be alright, that I was still going to be his daughter and that nothing bad was going to happen to me.

In the end he had seen that it was inevitable and he had caved. He had muttered "As long as you're happy!" before he walked into the living room to watch some game or other. I had gone upstairs and called Renée to tell her that Charlie was not amused to say the least and she had in turn called Charlie to tell him that it was the right decision.

He seemed to have actually listened to my mother for once because when I came back downstairs after the phone call his bad mood had disappeared completely and he actually asked me when he was going to see Edward again.

Which would be in only a few minutes from now. I was nervously walking around the house, desperately trying to find something to keep me busy until Edward was here. I was nervous because I was afraid he wasn't going to show up or that he had changed his mind and came here to tell me that this whole thing was not such a great idea after all. I knew it was silly but that was the way I felt nonetheless.

After I had rearranged the kitchen supplies for the second time today the doorbell finally rang and I sprinted towards the door to answer it. And there he was, even more beautiful than I would have thought possible. Edward beamed at me and immediately pulled me in for a kiss.

"I've missed you," he said softly.

"I've missed you too," I replied sincerely.

Edward followed me inside and I wanted to warn him about Charlie's mood yesterday and that he shouldn't be surprised if Charlie was going to be difficult with him now but I didn't have any time because as soon as we entered the house Charlie came out of his chair to greet Edward.

"Hello chief Swan," Edward said politely.

"Edward, just because you left for a few years doesn't mean you can't still call me Charlie. Especially now that you're going to be living with my daughter," Charlie said kindly.

I just gaped at Charlie. I couldn't really tell if he was being genuine or not given the tantrum he had had yesterday.

"Why don't we sit down for a moment?" Charlie suggested. "I would like to discuss a few things with you. And Bella? Please stop staring at me like I'm from another planet," he added to me in an annoyed voice.

"Right," I muttered. I didn't really know what to do, whether to follow Edward and Charlie into the living room or not. I wasn't sure I wanted to be a part of this particular conversation.

But luckily Charlie only wanted to discuss some logistics with Edward. He asked him when he was moving in; how he was going to get there and then they talked about the payment of the apartment _we_ were going to be living in. It still felt strange to me that I was actually going to be living with Edward Cullen!

Edward had immediately told Charlie that he didn't expect me to pay for anything as long as I was in school. He said he had plenty of money to pay for the apartment and that I could chip in whenever I had a job. I wanted to protest but Charlie seemed so happy with the idea of not having to worry about me struggling that I decided to bring that up when Edward and I were alone.

After an hour of talking, Charlie finally let Edward go.

"Why don't we go somewhere for a little while?" I asked eager to be completely alone with Edward.

"What did you have in mind?" Edward asked.

"How about your place?" I suggested.

"Good idea," Edward said with a cryptic smile.

I just threw him a confused look but he shook his head before leading me out the door.

We arrived at the Cullen house not much later and I immediately sensed something was off. The last time I'd been here there had been no sign of anyone living here anymore whatsoever. But now that was different. When we pulled up into the driveway I noticed there were a few cars standing outside as if they had never left and I looked at Edward in confusion. Edward just smiled back at me serenely.

"Bella!" Alice's voice screamed at me.

I noticed her bouncing out the doorway and I was stunned. I had not expected her to be here.

"Alice?" I asked dumbly.

"Last time I checked that was me, yes," she replied smugly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still completely confused.

"What a warm welcome, it's good to see you again too," she muttered quasi-hurt.

"Sorry," I said.

"It's alright! I told Edward to keep this a surprise. But we are all moving back," she announced as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

"What are you talking about?" I was flabbergasted. "You love Paris!"

"After two years of running my own shop I'm kind of done with that," she said with a shrug.

"I don't understand," I told her truthfully.

"Well, after you called from the airplane Edward told us that he was going to move back and of course that came as no surprise to me but I knew that my parents and siblings all like Forks better than they like France. It's comfortable here, the people are nice and they don't ask too many questions. I knew we were going to have to move on sooner or later anyway and I didn't want them to stay in Paris just because of me. That and I missed my best friend!" she explained excitedly.

"So you're all staying?" I checked.

"Yes, we're all staying," she confirmed.

"That's great!" I exclaimed enthusiastically.

We spent some time talking to the entire family before Edward seemed to be sick of the company and lead me to his room upstairs so we could be together.

"I've needed to miss you for far too long and I don't want to share you any longer," Edward said as he guided me into his room.

"Sounds good to me," I replied simply.

Edward chuckled before taking my hand, sitting down on his couch and pulling me down with him. He positioned me in his lap and I snuggled close to him, inhaling his intoxicating scent and just enjoying the moment.

We stayed that way for an immeasurable amount of time before Edward broke the silence.

"Are you happy love?" he asked seriously.

"Happier than I have ever been before," I replied truthfully.

**

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A/N**: _ They Lived Happily Ever After after all ;) So the story has now officially come to an end :( I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :) Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and review this story and to everyone who has added this story or me to their favorites or alerts, that means the world to me! :)_

_If you liked this story maybe you'd like my other stories as well :) Go check them out if you want and I always welcome reviews ;) *another not so subtle hint ;):P*_

_I have actually already written the first complete chapter of my next story so it shouldn't be too long before I start uploading for that one as well. It's called __**Make A Bad Boy Be Good **__and it's about Bella meeting Edward during his rebellious phase:) Seemed like a nice challenge to me to write Edward a little different from his usual perfect-gentleman role ;) I hope you all come check it out once I've started uploading :) If you want to read it just check my profile every once in a while, I keep it as up to date as I can with all the information of things I'm working on or add me to your Author's Alerts ;) And if you think I'm taking too long feel free to send me a PM ;)_

_Well, so that was really it for this story :) _

_Until next time!_

_Xxx,_

_Thari_


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